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Mevja
Classification and Dialects Phonology Consonants Vowels Diphthongs Phonotactics . onset clusters can be stop+liquid , fricative+approximant and nasal+stop Permitted onsets A syllable may begin with a single consonant, or a permitted cluster. Known permitted clusters consist of an oral stop followed by either a liquid, or a sibilant. Word-initially A word may begin with a vowel, a single consonant, an oral stop followed by a liquid, or either of those preceded by a sibilant. That is, I word may begin with three consonants provided they occur in the following configuration: Permitted nuclei A nucleus may be a short vowel, a long vowel, or a diphthong. Permitted codas Any consonant may appear as a geminate, except for the palatals (ñ''', '''j). Word-finally A word may end with a vowel, s''', '''n, m, t, d, r, l, k or h. The only permissible consonant clusters word-finally are ks and gz. Stress and syllable distribution The maximum possible syllable structure in Mevja is CCCVCV. . Word stress in Mevja is predictable and non phonemic and it is determined by syllable weight. . Words with a single syllable it is automatically the first or unstressed entirely. . words with two syllables the stress falls on the first syllable. . words with three or more syllables, the stress is on the penultimate syllable if this is heavy, otherwise (if the syllable is a light one) on the antepenultimate syllable, i.e. the third-to-last syllable. A syllable is light if: :* It ends with a short vowel. This includes rising diphthongs that ends in a short vowel A syllable is heavy if: * It contains with a long vowel * It contains a falling diphthong * It contains a long rising diphthong * It ends with a consonant or contains a cluster of two consonants :: For syllable boundaries at the middle of a word, a good rule of thumb is that if a vowel is followed by two consonants, the first consonant is at the end of a syllable and thus the syllable is heavy. For this purpose: ::* Digraphs, such as rh, gh, lj count as a single consonant. ::* A plosive (p'', ''t, k'', ''kw, b'', ''d, g'') followed by a liquid (''r, l'', ''rh) or a sibilant (s'', ''š , z'') ::* Only the following consonants have phonemically geminated forms: ''pp, tt, kk, mm, nn, ss, ff, ll, rr, gg. Morphonology Consonant Mutation . There are four types of consonant mutation in Mevja: ''' # '''Lenition or Soft mutation - voiced stops to voiceless stops, voiceless stops to spirants. liquids trigger. # Fortiton or hard mutation - fricatives to voiceless stops. broad vowels trigger. # Nasalization - stops become a nasal of the same articulation. nasals trigger. # Spirantization - stops to spirants. slender vowels trigger. Vowel Processes .' There is one type of vowel processes in Mevja : ' # Umlaut - is a process in which the an suffix with a certain vowel either (i or u) determines the vowel quality of all other vowels in the word. 1a. i - Umlaut - the process of all vowels in a word being fronted due to an (i) suffix being attached. 1b. U- umlaut - the process of unrounded vowels being rounded due to an (u) suffix being added. . front harmony always takes precedence before the suffix is added and umlaut takes place. Writing System Grammar Nouns Gender Case . There are nine cases in Mevja: # Nominative - the subject of a sentence. # Accusative - the direct object of a sentence. # Dative - the indirect object of a sentence. # Genitive - shows possession or origin # Ablative - shows movement. # Essive - denotes a state of being. # Lative - denotes a static location. # Instrumental - denotes the tool used to perform an action. # Comitative - denotes accompaniment when the action was performed. . Number . There are four numbers in Mevja nouns : # Singular - one of something. # Dual - two of something. # Plural - three or more of something. # Paucal - denotes part of a whole (some, a few). Ex: Vama - Person Verbs Tense # Aorist - ( I eat.) # Present - (I am eating.) # Perfect - ( I have eaten / I have been eating) # Past - ( I ate.) # Imperfect - (I was eating.) # Pluperfect - ( I had eaten./ I had been eating) # Future - ( I will eat.) # Near Future - (I will be eating.) # Future Perfect - ( I will have eaten. / I will have been eating.) Syntax Lexicon People # Vama - person / human. # Đavu - man / hero. # Sabi - woman. Example text